Toner set, image forming method, and image forming apparatus

Abstract

Provided here are toner sets and image forming apparatus and methods for the formation of a bright image with excellent brightness and concealability. A toner set according to an embodiment comprises a first toner which is stored in a first container and comprises a plurality of first toner particles containing a first bright pigment and a first binder resin, and a second toner which is stored in a second container and comprises a plurality of second toner particles containing a second bright pigment and a second binder resin, wherein the second toner has a larger volume average particle diameter than the first toner.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An image forming method, comprising:
 forming a first electrostatic latent image on a first photoconductor; 
 forming a first toner image corresponding to the first electrostatic latent image on the first photoconductor by supplying a first toner which comprises a plurality of first toner particles containing a first bright pigment and a first binder resin to the first photoconductor; 
 directly or indirectly transferring the first toner image onto a recording medium from the first photoconductor; 
 forming a second electrostatic latent image having the same shape and dimension as the first electrostatic latent image on a second photoconductor which is different from the first photoconductor; 
 forming a second toner image corresponding to the second electrostatic latent image on the second photoconductor by supplying a second toner which comprises a plurality of second toner particles containing a second bright pigment and a second binder resin and has a larger volume average particle diameter than a volume average particle diameter of the first toner to the second photoconductor having the second electrostatic latent image formed thereon; and 
 forming a bright image in which the first and second toner images are superimposed on each other on the recording medium by directly or indirectly transferring the second toner image onto the recording medium from the second photoconductor, 
 wherein the first toner image formed with the first toner having the smaller volume average particle diameter than the volume average particle diameter of the second toner is interposed between the recording medium and the second toner image. 
 
     
     
       2. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the bright image is formed by the interposing of the first toner image between the recording medium and the second toner image. 
     
     
       3. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the ratio of the volume average particle diameter of the second toner to the volume average particle diameter of the first toner is within the range of 1.01 to 10.00. 
     
     
       4. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the ratio of the volume average particle diameter of the second toner to the volume average particle diameter of the first toner is within the range of 1.10 to 2.0. 
     
     
       5. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the ratio of the volume average particle diameter of the second toner to the volume average particle diameter of the first toner is within the range of 1.11 to 1.34. 
     
     
       6. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the volume average particle diameter of the first toner is within the range of 6 to 20 μm. 
     
     
       7. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the volume average particle diameter of the first toner is within the range of 10 to 16 μm. 
     
     
       8. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the volume average particle diameter of the second toner is within the range of 10 to 30 μm. 
     
     
       9. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the volume average particle diameter of the second toner is within the range of 15 to 25 μm. 
     
     
       10. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the first bright pigment and the second bright pigment each exhibits metallic luster, or wherein the first bright pigment and the second bright pigment each exhibits pearly luster.